Financial markets

Well... I have stopped writing about the financial market and economy for a long time, but I think its time to revisit it.

Much have happened in the last few months, especially last weeks. Huge financial entities have collapsed, bailout or merged. Things are getting worse... (as expected XD )

Now, you should have seen enough of those bad news, let's talk about something else! Sovereign wealth funds (SWF), one of the big topics last year, is now almost forgotten. However, I think that their importance now is higher than ever. They are probably one of the few big institutions that are still holding a lot of cash to purchase. They have a few aims: get better return from their countries reserve funds, gain "power" in international relationship with their money, secure resources and technology.

For example, you can expect Chinese Investment Corp to increase their investment in resources companies/ actual mines. The prices have come down a lot and they should have much higher bargaining power now, I do not think those "patriots" have much say now when their economies need cash so urgently. The incident of CNOOC failing to buy Unocal because of politics should be harder to repeat now.

Out of my guts feelings, I think SWF will also increase their spending in the real estate market. Targets including class A commercial properties in NY, London and other major cities. Residential properties may have some potentials too. However it is hard to detect as SWF are usually very secretive. This is a good chance for them to get a long term income generating asset with proven record (they are not venture capital after all).

SWF may well be the "investor of last resort" in the current market. Keep your eyes for their news!!


By the way, seems that a lot of people are thinking the same thing as me:
Vitasoy (維他奶) was up 15% on 22 Sep. (Many restaurants use vitasoy instead of milk now!)